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Section 64(1)(e)(i) requires designated religious charities to have an organisation in which internal authorities exercise supervisory and disciplinary functions in respect of the charity. It is for the organisation itself to determine how it wishes to structure itself to meet this requirement and for OSCR to determine whether the supervisory and disciplinary structures are sufficient to allow registration as a designated religious charity. There is no preset definition of “authorities” in this context.

The Scottish Executive is in regular contact with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) on the interaction between housing benefit policy and policy on devolved matters. Discussions were held with DWP at official level on those aspects of closure orders which impact on housing benefit issues during the bill stages of the Anti-Social Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Act 2004. Those discussions covered eligibility for housing benefit under a range of scenarios where a closure order resulted in a claimant for housing benefit being excluded from the property to which their claim related. The outcome of those discussions informed ministers’ position on closure orders during stage 2 of the consideration of the bill; the stage 3 Executive amendment which required the sheriff to have regard to the vulnerability of an occupant who had not engaged in antisocial behaviour when considering an application for a closure order; and the guidance which has been issued to police and local authorities.

Closure orders apply to premises, not individuals. However, the relevant local authority has the responsibility for deciding whether or not a person made homeless as a result of a closure order is intentionally homeless in the light of that person’s individual circumstances. Prior to an application for a closure order the police and the local authority should work together, especially where children or vulnerable people may be affected, to help prevent homelessness. The court is also required, when deciding whether or not to make an order, to consider the ability of the person(s) to find alternative accommodation and the vulnerability of any such person(s).

Implementation of the new volunteering strategy is being supported from within the level of resources available for distribution by the Scottish Executive Voluntary Issues Unit (VIU). In both 2004-05 and 2005-06 the VIU has £19.683 million available for distribution to the voluntary sector.

There is no ring-fenced financial provision for the cost of implementing the volunteering strategy. We expect the creation of a robust culture of volunteering and the dismantling of barriers to volunteering throughout Scotland to be part of the everyday activities or organisations in the voluntary sector, not a separate and discrete activity.

To be eligible for financial assistance from the Scottish Executive Voluntary Issues Unit (VIU), voluntary organisations must demonstrate that the activities for which funding is sought meet one or more of the following:

Are consistent with the aims and objectives of the Scottish Executive;

help develop the voluntary sector’s organisational, physical, financial and intellectual capacity;

support the strategic needs of the voluntary sector, as identified in the volunteering strategy;

help the voluntary sector deliver the outcomes of the volunteering strategy, and

impact at the national level.

There is no financial provision specifically designated for implementing the volunteering strategy. Implementation of the strategy is being supported from within the £19.7 million available for distribution to the voluntary sector by the VIU.

Eleven voluntary organisations have submitted formal bids since 11 May for grant funding from the resources available for distribution by the VIU. Of these, one organisation has been awarded grant funding of £95,000 per annum. in 2004-05, 2005-06 and 2006-07. A second organisation has been awarded a grant of £145,651 in 2005-06. A further five bids from voluntary organisations are under consideration and four organisations have been informed that their requests for financial assistance have been turned down because they did not meet the criteria set out above.

The Scottish Parliament’sinternal television network is a bespoke package which includes the BBCParliament Channel. Even if it were possible to modify this package there iscurrently no other access for television viewers to Westminsterdebates. However access to live broadcasts from Westminster is available on theinternet at www.parliamentlive.tv. As many as 18 live streams are availablesimultaneously. Coverage of all the proceedings in the two Chambers andSittings of the House of Commons in Westminster Hall are televised andcommittees are televised at the request of broadcasters. If committees are nottelevised an audio feed is available. The service also includes an on demandarchive where material is stored for 14 days.

The Business InformationTechnology Office is currently undertaking a project to deliver web streamingto Parliament network users. The first stage of this project is aninvestigation in to the technical options available to facilitate an effectiveand secure delivery of web streaming across the Parliament network whilstmanaging the associated risks. This investigation is due to report back by endof January 2005 and will include access to the streaming video produced by Westminsteras part of the scope of the study.

The Executive has allocated budgets totalling £2.3 million to support over one hundred rural and urban community transport schemes in 2004-05. Community transport schemes normally provide access to health services as part of their wider remit. In a few cases, schemes provide only health-related transport.

The British Fluoridation Society is receiving grant of £10,000 in 2004-05 under section 16B of the National Health Services (Scotland) Act 1978. The society is a source of information on fluoridation issues, from which the Executive and other bodies or individuals can draw as appropriate. The Executive does not provide grant assistance to any other organisations with a specific focus on fluoridation.

I refer the member to the answer to S2W-12230 answered on 25 November 2004. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.